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Michel Camilo is a composer and pianist extraordinaire. He is a bandleader, lecturer, and visiting professor. He is a chart-topping producer and a Grammy, Latin Grammy, and Emmy Award winner. He is the recipient of his native country's highest civilian honors. Camilo is all of these things and more, wrapped in a human being of boundless enthusiasm, musical passion, and love of life. His artistry and virtuosity bridge the genres of jazz, classical, popular, and world music. He is a pianist with a brilliant technique and a composer who flavors his tunes with the spice of Caribbean rhythms and jazz harmonies. As Academy Award-winning filmmaker Fernando Trueba declared, "Every time I see [Camilo] play, I feel like I'm witnessing a miracle."

A native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Camilo made his recorded debut in 1985 with Why Not?. Almost 30 years later, he has released numerous critically acclaimed albums; performed as a featured soloist, arranger, and composer with the Danish Radio Big Band and several prominent symphony orchestras; has appeared at Royal Albert Hall, The White House, and in various legendary jazz venues in New York, including the Blue Note, the Beacon Theatre, Radio City Music Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall; and has embarked on regular tours of the Caribbean, Europe, Israel, Japan, and all three Americas. The pianist's latest release, Mano a Mano (2011), finds him taking a new approach to the trio format, using congas and small percussion instead of a trap set.

Alfredo Rodríguez

A young pianist of astonishing virtuosity and imagination, Cuban-born Alfredo Rodríguez calls up images of legendary jazz pianists like Keith Jarrett, Thelonious Monk, Art Tatum, Bill Evans, and his compatriot Chucho Valdés. Discovered at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2006 by Quincy Jones, Rodríguez's star has risen rapidly under the tutelage of the famed producer. Since arriving in the US in 2009, the pianist has appeared on numerous prestigious stages, including the Playboy Jazz Festival; the Detroit, Newport, San Francisco, North Sea, Umbria, and Vienna Jazz Festivals; and in important jazz rooms such as Ronnie Scott's, Sculler's, Yoshi's, the Jazz Standard, the Blue Note, and Jazz Alley.

Rodríguez's first album Sounds of Space, featuring original material and produced by Quincy Jones, was released worldwide earlier this year. Although the disc evokes images of science fiction, in truth it's about a far more personal adventure. "It's about the space that surrounds us," Rodríguez explains. "In this record I wanted to introduce myself: here are the people, the places and the sounds that have surrounded me, and made me who I am." So who is this young pianist? Jones puts it simply: "Alfredo is very special, and I do not say that easily because I have been surrounded by the best musicians in the world my entire life. He is one of the best."